~BRANDON'S STORY~

BRANDON ELAM
March 18, 1991 ~ October, 2 2007
Always Remembered...Never Forgotten

Brandon was diagnosed with Crohn's Disease in Aug 2004. After many trips to the hospital and doctor's Brandon was not getting better. On Oct. 22, 2004 Brandon was diagnosed also with Medulloblastoma(brain tumor), that metastasized to his spine. 10-25-04 he had surgery to remove the brain tumor. 11-10-04 he had a shunt placed in his head to relieve the pressure. 11-22-04 we started 30 radiation treatment's with a weekly dose of Vincristine (chemo). From 2-05 to 7-05 Brandon had 6 rounds of heavy chemo in the hospital. He has had clean scans until 9-22-06, when we found out he relapsed. He has Medullablastoma in his bone marrow. This is very rare. He is having 10 radiation treatments on his hip and he is taking an oral form of chemo (VP-16) at home. If the chemo works he will have a stem cell transplant from his own blood. After 1 round of the oral chemo scans showed more tumors. We are now doing IV chemo (Carboplatin & Etoposide-VP-16) in the hospital. We found out in 6-07 after 6rds of treatment that this was not working anymore and his cancer is spreading. We are now going to try a five day chemo treatment (Temozomide and Irinitecan) We will start this as inpatient and if Brandon does well we can do it in Dr. McMahon's office. It is with much sadness that after two rds of this treatment. We had an MRI and PET Scan done that showed us that the cancer has continued to spread throughout Brandon's body. As of 8-27-07 we have all decided that we have run out of option's and we are not going to have anymore treatments. We do not know how much time Brandon has left, but we are going to live everyday like it is his last and make a lot of happy memories. Please keep praying for Brandon and our family to make it thru this. Thanks for all the love and support.
PLEASE LEAVE BRANDON A MESSAGE UNDER GUESTBOOK.








Brandon's Make-a-Wish trip to Atlantis (Bahamas) 7-06

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Journal

Wednesday, August 27, 2008 1:11 PM CDT

I know this update is way past due. I have sat down so many times and started to leave a message and just couldn't. It has become so hard to get on here anymore. We live with so much pain all the time and this just adds to it. It is so hard to believe that Brandon has been gone 10 months already and on Tues 9-2-08 it will be 11 months. If there is one thing you never forget with a child with cancer is all the dates of everything. They sure do come around all the time. Today it has been a year since we had Brandon's last Mri and Pet Scan that showed us that the chemo was not working anymore and that his body was covered in cancer. We were told that there was no more chemo drugs left to try. I as a mother had to go home and tell both of my children that there is nothing else we can do and that Brandon was going to pass away. I also had to except this for myself and also tell Scott and have him except it. It was one of the worse days of my life. A year later and i still feel so heart broken and sad. I still ? a lot why us, why is Brandon not here with us. Why could I not get him ready for his senior year also along with Brooke in her freshman year. They were supposed to be in school together for the last time. That is the one thing I have learned in these 10months since his death and the whole time he battled. The life we had planned on having would never happen. All the things we should be doing with both of our children will never be. We are all still trying to adjust to this new life without him and try to get thru all the dates and things he should be doing. I just hope over time it can get easier, but as of now it still hurts a lot.

This summer went by very fast. We did go on our girls trip to NY and had a blast. Jordan and Brooke told us we have to do this every year. They will need jobs to pay for it. Brooke got to go to the beach two times and had a lot of fun. All of us and her friend Jordan went for a few days to the mountains with a few families from the Home Town Heroes. We had a great time. All the kids had a blast together. We went white water rafting and rode horses up the mountain. It was a great getaway for all of us. Scott and I are getting ready to go on the Home Town Heroes big ride next weekend. It is the one that they do the big kick off with all the kids and families and then they escort a child to school (Like they did for Brandon) and leave on the trip. It will be hard on us for the kick off because last year Brandon was there very sick and he passed away not much after it, but we know we will have a good time. They are such a great group. They still look after us just like Brandon is still here.

I have been looking for a job some here and there, but now that Brooke is back in school I made that my goal to really start looking for one. I can use any help to find one. I would love to get a job in a doctors office working the front desk or anything they are willing to train me on. It is very hard to get one of these jobs unless you have done this before or unless you know someone. If anyone has pull in getting me on in one of these jobs. I would love the help. Please just let me know. My email is selam46@carolina.rr.com.

Thank you very much for checking in on us and for all your continued prayers. We can sure use them. These last few months and the next few to come are very hard ones with a lot of good memories and bad memories. A lot of happy times and sad times that we are living with from a year ago. Enjoy everyday like it is your last day, because tomorrow can change your future forever.

Also check out the link below to ELAM-N8 CANCER it has info on Brandon's golf tournament coming up in Oct.

Love to all,
Anita, Scott, and Brooke
The proud parents and proud sister to Brandon FOREVER
We love you Buddy and miss you very much. Please take some time to come visit with me. I still do not feel you around me at all and i sure could use anything from you.
Love,
Mom

Read Journal History

Hospital Information:

CAROLINAS MEDICAL CENTER
1000 BLYTHE BLVD
CHARLOTTE, NC 28203

Links:

E-mail Author: selam46@carolina.rr.com

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